During Pres. Obama’s eight-year administration 141,91 illegal aliens were given citizenship and work permits through the U Visa program, despite the 10,000 per year cap. During Obama’s first term 63,000 U visa requests were approved and 78,637 were approved during his second term which means that they approved around 62,000 additional U visas over the cap limit.
The U visa was created to help illegal alien victims to could come forward and testify against their abusers. The visa was part of the Battered Immigrant Women Protection Act within the Victims of Trafficking and Violence Protection Act of 2000.
U visa holders are granted work permits and legal status and after several years can apply for a green card and become a citizen. Originally the visa was supposed to be capped at 10,000 per year but under the Obama administration’s lax-enforcement the visa program was expanded.
Once a witness is approved for a U visa or U-1 visa their spouse can get a U-2 visa and children can receive a U-3 visa to live and work in the U.S. If the victim is a child under 18 their parents can receive a U-4 visa. None of these other U visa categories count against the 10,000 U visa cap.
The visa was supposed to help encourage illegal aliens who had suffered physical or mental abuse – especially battered woman – to testify in court without the fear of deportation. However, under the Obama administration the list of qualifying crimes for a U visa was broadened to include workplace investigations including extortion, forced labor, and fraud in foreign labor contracting. This grants some illegal aliens who testify against their employers the ability to gain U.S. citizenship.
In August 2016, the Obama administration allowed foreigners living outside the U.S. who applied for the U visa be granted a parole to live and work in the U.S. till a U visa became available once the 10,000 cap was reached.
“The U visa was yet another example of Obama expanding sympathy-laden programs without considering the implications for working Americans and agency oversight capabilities,” said Dale Wilcox, the executive director and general counsel at the Immigration Law Reform Institute. “The ease of fabricating a crime coupled with the bounty of US wage-rates and welfare benefits already made the program wide open for fraud,” he said. “Obama’s expansions made it even easier.”
Read more on this story at Breitbart.com.
